With Netflix’s ‘The Investigation of Lucy Letby’ delving deep into the serial child killer case that has taken the UK by storm in the past few years, we get a documentary unlike any other. It delves into every aspect of how the former neonatal nurse at the Countess of Chester Hospital was convicted of being a heinous murderer after the mortality rate rose while she was on call. After years of investigations and legal proceedings, she was convicted of killing 7 babies and attempting to kill seven others, but she maintains her innocence, making many wonder about her motive.
Lucy Letby’s Motive Has Been Postulated as Thrill-Seeking
As a native of Hereford, England, who grew up in a loving, supportive home as an only child, Lucy Letby never had any discipline issues or problems while growing up. However, she had decided to pursue a career as a neonatal nurse at an early age upon learning that her own birth was quite difficult, driving her to want to help make things easier for others. Thus, she worked hard to earn her nursing degree from the University of Chester, following which she landed a full-time job at the Countess of Chester Hospital in the department of her dreams in early 2012.
According to her peers, Lucy was knowledgeable in her department and well-versed in caring for young ones, but things began to change roughly three years into her career. That’s when infants at the hospital started passing away unexpectedly and at an unusually high rate during the night, making the higher-ups wonder what was going wrong. It came to light that Lucy had become qualified to work with infants in intensive care in 2015, and when she had made an error in early 2016, she was moved to the day shift. That’s when the infant deaths reportedly started happening during the day.
When authorities were contacted regarding such continued concern, there were reportedly 61 cases in which babies had died or collapsed suddenly, but it was narrowed down to 22 criminal counts by Lucy’s trial. During the proceedings, she was described by parents, doctors, and fellow nurses as someone who acted unusually when babies suddenly declined. Then, with her being on call for every death, prosecutors claimed the evidence showed she had harmed all of them by either injecting them with air or insulin, overfeeding them with milk, or manipulating their breathing tubes. As for her motivation, prosecutors claimed she “enjoyed playing God” and got a “thrill” from watching the babies suffer before passing away.
As per prosecutors, the fact that Lucy searched Facebook for the families of her victims also displayed a pattern for her hunt for grief. After all, according to her computer records, she often searched for a number of such families in quick succession, often within minutes of each other, and focused on images. The prosecutors even reiterated their point by asserting that she also often searched for them on the anniversaries of their babies’ deaths and special occasions like Thanksgiving, Christmas, Mother’s Day, etc. In the end, with these statements, backed by the testimonies of peers, parents, and experts, as well as the evidence, Lucy was convicted in a total of 14 cases and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Lucy Letby Has Always Maintained Her Innocence
Despite Lucy’s convictions, further inquests into the deaths of her victims, and all the claims made against her, she has always maintained her innocence and even filed an appeal. She claims that she was involved in each case wherein the babies suddenly went into distress because she was one of the most qualified nurses at the hospital at the time. This claim has been reiterated by her lawyers as well as the aforementioned documentary, right along with the fact that no one ever actually witnessed her harming any baby in any way, shape, or form. Some of her believers have since also claimed she was scapegoated by the hospital owing to her shy and reserved personality, as per the show, suggesting the hospital was allegedly negligent in the cases. However, this remains an accusation and has not been backed by any legal data, evidence, or verdict.
As for the other pieces of evidence against Lucy, she claims there is an explanation behind them all. The former neonatal nurse denies all thrill-seeking claims, asserting that while she didn’t remember each baby and didn’t let the losses take over, she was still affected by it. She added that she got no joy from watching anyone struggle and that the Facebook searches were for all sorts of people from all walks of life, not just the parents of babies in the unit. Moreover, referring to the post-it notes that have long been painted as her confessions owing to their comprising incriminating phrases, she has asserted they were therapy notes.
Lucy claimed she penned “I am evil, I did this” and “I killed them on purpose because I am not good enough to care for them and I am a horrible evil person” while she was being investigated. The accusations swirling around her were stressing her out, so she had written down her every thought, worry, and fear on the post-its on advice from her practitioner. That’s why they also had phrases like “I haven’t done anything wrong,” “Why me?,” “Police investigation slander discrimination victimisation,” and much more. Coming to the babies’ causes of death, a panel of 14 medical experts has since compiled a report after extensively studying all the clinical records, wherein their conclusion is that no baby was deliberately harmed, so there hasn’t been a crime. However, the legal process is still ongoing, so Lucy remains convicted and incarcerated.
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